Saturday, May 4, 2013

Wayne Henderson - The Stradivari of the Blueridge

Anton Stradivari is the prestigious builder of violins and other stringed instruments. His creations, known as Stradivarius or Strads are nonpareil and the standard by which all violins are compared. Virginia resident Wayne Henderson is a luthier that has earned the title of The Stradivari of the Blueridge (mountains).

Wayne C. Henderson is an American Luthier who
specializes in the crafting of handmade custom Acoustic guitars. He has studied Martin guitars from the 1930's and early 1940's and has designed instruments that many feel are superior. I certainly agree.

Wayne humbly states all he does is take a sharp knife to a piece of wood and cuts away all the parts that do not look like a guitar.

But he does so much more than that. His guitars all have a signature crisp, clean and sweet ringing sound that steel string acoustic players have come to desire.

The spruce braces he installs are hand cut with 'a sharp knife.' Actually it is his pocket knife. He chooses wood for the soundboard that has a nice ringing tone. Everything about his guitars, with the exception of the tuners and the bits of inlay are hand made.

Henderson carves nuts and saddles out of aged beef bone. Henderson does all the inlay work on his guitars and as you can see from the picture at the top of the page, the results are exquisite.

Wayne Henderson also occasionally makes other stringed instruments, such as mandolins, banjos and fiddles. His focus is on guitars and he has a long waiting list.

As I have mentioned, Henderson's guitars are
inspired by those great pre-World War II guitars of C.F. Martin and Company. In essence, Wayne runs a one man shop, so he has built and sold only a limited amount of guitars. Those who own a Henderson guitar say it is worth the wait.

Wayne Henderson is also an incredible fingerstyle guitar
player. You can often find him playing guitar with friends on his front
porch. But Henderson has played guitar at Carnegie Hall and participated in three
national tours of Masters of the Steel-String Guitar and and done seven Asian tours of
this show.

Henderson
works alone in his shop, although he is sometimes aided by his daughter, Elle Jayne Henderson and by aficionados that travel 100’s of miles just to get the
chance to work with this master luthier. Wayne
is happy to share his knowledge.

Wayne’sdaughter, who goes by the name Elizabeth, has become very involved in her Father’s work. She has interrupted her
law school classes, to learn to be a luthier.

She has said, “I think the name
that he’s made for himself as a luthier is so significant that it shouldn’t end
with him, he is a master at it and I’m his only kid. I think it’s really
important to carry on a tradition like this.”

She wants to build instruments that move away from the
traditionally favored exotic but unsustainable woods. For centuries, luthiers
have sought out woods like Brazilian rosewood and Honduran mahogany to craft
their superior instruments. “I can go to my Granny’s land a mile away and cut a
walnut or Appalachian spruce or gather some that’s already fallen,” Jayne says.
“That movement is happening with our food, why not try and make this more
sustainable too?”

In joining her father’s business, the Hendersons’ concern of late is producing a
sustainable guitar that will not erode the world’s natural resources.

Wayne Henderson only produces about 20 instruments a year,
which explains the long wait.

Some of Henderson’s
instruments are elaborately decorated, while some are rather plain. Henderson’s goal is to
make a guitar with excellent volume and tone.

A portion of the proceeds from the Festival
are placed into a scholarship fund to aid young musicians in continuing their
education. The competition winner receives a Henderson guitar.

From Fret Board Journal

By the end of 2012 and by his count, Wayne has built 549 guitars, 116 mandolins,
104 fiddles, 15 banjos, 14 ukuleles, five dulcimers and two dobros in his
career.

So far Elle Jayne is working on two ukuleles and her eighth guitar, a cutaway model with koa sides and a spruce top, as gifts for her
cousins. With each one, she comes closer to her goal of a sustainable guitar of
the quality her dad instruments.